Jun 2015 Archive, part a

I wish I could think of something more to say, but I'm afraid that's it. It's a nice little piece.

Oh, and it does pique my curiosity about what you've got in store for Rina. I can't wait to see how she ends up aging a few hundred years in the course of ten. O.o

~Neshomeh

But shouldn’t this read "for a TARDIS it was"?

HG, back to being pedantic

I typed that out before I saw the maximum number thing. But keep me in mind for when you next need a beta if you like.

You can reach me at poorcynic(AT)me{DOT)com.

I'll gladly beta this story of yours. Email is sur DOT nhm AT gmail DOT com.

First off, I'm not officially diagnosed, and I know my "level" of social anxiety isn't as bad as some people have, since I'm still capable of working around people and having conversations. I just want to share my experience in case it's valuable to you.

So basically, my anxiety reaches it's true worst on work days that are so busy that I'm having to interact with people constantly, with no down time between zoo guests, and hence, no chance to cool down from acting like a regular human. Since my normal baseline is to retreat into my thoughts, the days where I'm forced to keep my attention directed outwards towards people make me start to actually feel like I'm losing my sense of self. Eventually, I get desperate to escape from the people around me, but can't do so in the middle of a work shift. That's when I start to feel hopeless. My entire body starts to go numb, I get dizzy and start hyperventilating, and I have difficulty keeping my balance and controlling my hands. I can't get my body back to normal again until I'm alone and feel safe.

One weird caveat is that if people are making me angry, then I don't reach the point of panic attack. Not really sure why; maybe just because anger hormones are energizing, and keep me from getting that hopeless feeling?

Again, I don't know if this is really useful for you, as I don't know how typical my form of anxiety is, but that's how it is for me.

—doctorlit, realizing he pretty much just admitted to the whole Board that he's actually terrible at his job

I don't know enough to really go into detail myself, but my brother fenced for years, and he even reached A-level, which is near-Olympic quality. I'll do my best, and then if you have specific questions, let me know and I can pass them on to him. {= )

I think I can safely say that training consists largely of footwork, footwork, and more footwork. The sort of lunges fencers have to do to reach their target while exposing themselves as little as possible are ridiculous—it takes a lot of leg strength and flexibility. Also, you have to be fast and accurate, and you only get that by doing things over and over and over. Actual bouts happen pretty quickly, but the training is intense.

Then of course there's learning the rules. Each weapon style has different acceptable target areas—smallest for foil, largest for épée. The style is most different for sabre, though, since you can strike with the blade and not just the tip. I think most fencers specialize in one weapon, maybe expanding into the others if they feel like it or if there's a need on their team. (My brother specialized in foil, but also competed sometimes in épée, IIRC. I don't think he did sabre much, if at all.) And you can only score points for touches if you have right-of-way, which I don't fully understand. It seems fairly complicated.

You should know that the sport of fencing is not remotely akin to actual sword-fighting. Fencing swords are light and flexible, with blunt tips, so you don't actually hurt your opponent (apart from some occasional bruising) when you hit them. Real swords are heavy and sharp, and you're not supposed to stop as soon as you touch the target. Plus, your opponent will not be waiting until they have right-of-way to hit you—they'll just go for it. Her fencing training might let her avoid a few blows if she's quick enough at her age, but would otherwise be pretty much entirely against her in actual combat.

Presumably that's why you threw in regular swordplay, too, but again I'd caution you that what she practices for sport will not really prepare her for deadly combat where no one has to follow the rules.

~Neshomeh

The Official Fanfiction University of Discworld certainly noticed.

hS

I think the real difference is between a world that is still written and a world that has been abandoned. It doesn’t really matter whether the author is still alive. JKR has stated quite clearly that Harry Potter’s story is finished and she doesn’t intend to write more of it. Well, I’m still dreaming of Hermione Granger and the Interspecies Treaty (Harry doesn’t feature, he is too busy rounding up the last Death Eaters), but that’s just a delusion. We occasionally get some breadcrumbs on Pottermore, like we may still get new breadcrumbs from Tolkiens unpublished notes, but if we paid attention to the novels there shouldn’t be any big surprises.

(On the other hand, Isaac Asimov suddenly wrote new books connecting Foundation to the Robot-novels when the Foundation-universe apparently had been abandoned for decades. Nah, this won’t happen.)

Anyway, the potterverse felt much differently when we still waited for the next book, and everything seemed possible, and then a lot of fanfiction became outdated when the new book was published. Of course, everything has never been possible. The problems of an incomplete canon and what may or may not plausibly be possible are a major theme in "The Hogwarts Fanfiction Academy".

I’ll stop rambling here.

HG

Note: I tried to limit myself to continua that actually have PPC missions. There are a few that don't fit this, but I figured that they'd probably be good exceptions.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1RZAI1yQfliGoiNbRGuwX9suHZPI9HuThtCn_lOV3hYo/viewform?usp=send_form

Making an actual survey on Google or something? That way you wouldn't have to comb through a bunch of Pastebin files to gather data. It would be a LONG survey by necessity, but you could split it up by books, films, video games, etc. to keep it neat. You could use the Fandom categories on the wiki as a place to start for gathering options, though of course not every fandom that's popular now is represented by a page on the wiki and not everything with a page is popular now.

I'd also suggest setting a working definition of "fandom" that fits what you want to learn. Are you interested in every single thing that people might happen to like, or the ones they actively participate in somehow (i.e. cosplay, fan forums, writing fic, making art, etc.), or just the ones they might conceivably write a mission in? Framing the question will get you better, more specific answers, and also make it easier for us to figure out how to respond.

~Neshomeh, who can't be bothered to write out a list of everything she's ever liked but might tick off some boxes for a few minutes.

Check five or ten users, make that your basic list, then leave an open box for 'other'. Put it up on Google Drive or something.

hS

I don't have a user page, but I don't mind listing my favorites here, if that's okay. Or was that what you had in mind in the first place?

The mission reads quite a bit better than when I was betaing it. But it seems that a few errors slipped through the cracks. HG and EPL already caught the missing W in "wall," so here's the rest:

the Dedede dummy which had surreptitiously taken the canon’s place prepared to fight.
That should be "the Dedede dummy that had surreptitiously taken the canon's place"

“Wow, poor Luigi,” Honedge!Shulk said sympathetically. “Looks like that advice wasn’t enough to help him.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I simply made an… educated guess.”
Beat. “…It’s the ‘Green Mario’ thing, I’m guessing,” Whitney said finally.
The Shulk double nodded slowly. “Correct. Though he’s technically been a semi-clone since his debut.”
Apparently everyone else got what you're saying here, but could you please explain what you are referencing?

Once they had made sure that Not!Luigi was well and truly gone, they returned to their RC, Honedge!Shulk sat down at the foot of the single bed once again.
This is a comma splice. Either add an "and" before "Honedge!Shulk" or split the two sentences.

And I have to echo Tira here: You could have folded the "alternate" ending into the mission proper. Whay did you decide to split them?

I liked most of this, but there are two things that rubbed me the wrong way.

[...] the anthropomorphic Honedge was so engrossed in this and many other questions that he didn’t realize that he’d passed by the RC he was looking for until he’d kept walking for several minutes.
This is not how PPC HQ usually works. If you don’t pay attention, you should soon arrive where you should be, although that’s not always where you intended to go. Realizing that you’ve walked too far and trying to return should actually make it more difficult to get there, until you are distracted again. Since Flashback absentmindedly walked past the door rather than crashing into it, he apparently was not supposed to be there yet, possibly because the narrative laws of comedy required that he arrived only after Whitney got the mission, they would have no time to talk, and would go into the fic mostly unprepared. I was disappointed when this didn’t happen.

It had taken quite a bit of convincing to get Dedede to head through the portal to where Ike was, but the hammer-wielding bird had finally relented once Whitney told him that the match had been cancelled. He wouldn’t be fighting Luigi today – but there was a free-for-all open on the Gaur Plain stage, with Ike already getting ready to go.
Why didn’t we see this? It’s true that interacting too much with canons is frowned upon, but doing it off-page doesn’t help your cause, especially when you rant about "Show, Don’t Tell" in your author’s notes.

Typos:
She looked at him with frightened apprehension, but he turned to he and added [...]
The second "he" should be "her".

The humanized Sword Pokémon slammed into the opposite all, and before he could raise his Monado to defend himself, Not!Luigi had begun pummeling him, kicking and pounding.
Oh, eatpraylove already noticed the missing "w", and I don’t agree with her second point. Not!Luigi had already begun pummeling Backslash (past perfect) before Backslash could raise his weapon (past tense) looks perfectly right to me.

HG

Thanks for defending Luigi's honor. I like him better than Mario anyway. Whitney and Backslash balance each other out pretty well, but I'm confused about a few aspects of all this.

For starters, what the heck is Backslash's species? I know he's a former Stu and therefore a bit canon-breaking by default, but having him as both a Honedge gijinka and a Shulk replacement strikes me as a little overpowered. And mostly confusing. (I assume you wrote the snippet of fic he came from?) He also strikes me as a little too violent for active duty, even with the Glitter removal and therapy sessions.

I feel like you brought up the possibility of a Wii Fit Trainer Agent in a thread some time ago; if you did, props for somehow making it work. (Still waiting for Brenda and/or Vampire!Robin to get more screentime...)

My usual list of things...
-"...I thought it was the Villager who was portrayed as a psychopathic mass-murderer by the fandom, and not [– OW!]"
This doesn't feel natural. Try something like "...Usually the Villager gets the psycho mass-murderer treatment in this fandom, not [– OW!]"

Nice trick with using the dummy to protect a threatened/Stufluenced canon. (Ike was under a little Stufluence, right?)

-"...rubbing his gloved hand over his nose and noting that it was a decal on skin as smooth as glass."
Also clunky. If the point is to show Backslash's surprise at the (ingenious!) Mii Fighter disguise, try something like "'What am I now?' he asked. He ran a gloved hand over his face, then pulled it back when he realized that his skin had the texture of plate glass. Furthermore, his features felt like decals of some kind."

-"...He may need a monster to clobber that there Kirby, but he wouldn’t act that cruel by any stretch of the imagination."
Why does a character ostensibly from Smash Bros. know a meme relating to the Kirby dub?

More tomorrow, when I'm not sleepy.

Good job on the mission! I have to confess, Whitney reminds me a lot of this Rhymes With Witch strip. (Warnings for gore.)

I really like the vibe that Whitney and Backslash have going as a team. The main issue I had with the mission is that you tend to use overly long epithets for the characters. "The Sword Pokémon-slash-Homs" is a particularly notable one, as you use it multiple times. I know it's a little harder with Backslash, since he doesn't think of himself by that name, but it's a trend that occurs in all your missions, not just this one. Don't be afraid to repeat character names or use pronouns. (Confession - this is the reason I made a pair of agents of different genders, so that it'd be easier to keep track of who's who.) Also, I think you could have incorporated the "Alternate Ending" into the main fic, but that's just me being pedantic.

Overall, I really enjoyed this mission! Maybe I just have weird taste, but it's probably my favorite of your missions.

This was really good!

Because I love those! :D

Or to be specific, Hari Kaamatan on 31st May, and Hari Gawai on 1 June. The former is celebrated in Sabah to signify the start of planting season, while in Sarawak Hari Gawai is for the celebration of the end of the harvesting season.

Now let my orcs carry out a few hundred trays of fried chicken, a hundred earthenware jars of rice wine with straws of bamboo, and other meals for everyone. And bring out some long bamboo poles, we will need to dance Magunatip later. And Olgash, don't swing your ilang around. Go to your dancing group and try to dance in tune.

Kotobian Tadau Tagazo do Kaamatan and Gawai Guru Gerai Nyamai everyone!

...it was relocated to Kansas.
And nope, Metropolis has never been in New Jersey, that would be Gotham. Metropolis canonically is in New York State.

If you're talking about a version from the video games, then Mewtwo is just a powerful Pokemon. There's no specific indication that it necessarily has any powers beyond that. In the anime, however, it's an incredibly powerful psychic, and having a Mewtwo agent would be a little questionable. But power levels aren't really all that important.

The main issue I see with that is its in-universe backstory, though. Where did this Mewtwo come from? Technically it's a unique Pokemon; there isn't really "a" Mewtwo in canon so much as "the" Mewtwo. It's not like a Pikachu or something where the character could theoretically be a "canon bit." So it would have to be a Character Replacement. This can be a good backstory, and also a way to tone down its abilities.

Overall, I guess what I'm wondering is why you want to write these characters. I've seen you talk a lot about their power levels - and they're all pretty powerful - but I feel like you haven't said much about their personalities. While I understand that you don't want to spoil things for us, it'd be nice to have a sense of what drew you to these characters in the first place. Otherwise, it comes off a little like you're only picking them because they're powerful.

Personally, I would charge for, i.e., having Bella Swan hook up with Castiel from Supernatural and get turned into an angel (and yes, this has actually happened), even though it's perfectly in-character for her. If they violate the canon they're being crossed with or cause those characters to be OOC, it's a charge.

But I kind of plan on doing something similar with Aaron. Basically, he can put things in his inventory, which causes them to disappear from sight. Unfortunately, he can't access it outside of HQ or his home continuum (in part because his disguise covers his Pipboy). As far as his partner's concerned, this is some kind of strange, and potentially incredibly useful, magic; as far as he's concerned, it's perfectly normal. He also baffles her with his ability to effortlessly haul around 200+ pounds of gear and actually enjoy Cafeteria food (at least it's radiation-free).

Personally, I find the intersection between game mechanics and storytelling to be hilarious, probably as a side effect of reading Order of the Stick.

If it'd be funny or advance the story, yes. If not, you can hand wave it away.

You just have to remember that the character's actions make perfect sense to them. An example:

Partner: Why are you eating in the hallway?

Sim!Agent: Where else would I eat? The table is full of your stuff.

Partner: You mean the single book on the table?

Sim!Agent: Exactly! Clean up your stuff!

I find the UI on the Gaia version clunky and distasteful, and while I like the posing pics, I vastly preferred Tektek's use of buttons for the categories.

Also you can't have two of the same weapon WHAT IS EVEN THE HELL GAIA

I guess I no longer have any excuses not to work on my Permission request... Oh, wait. Exams. Forgot about those.

(But this summer, though...)

Can I send it via e-mail? It's fairly spoilery for my agents, and I have Plans for them.

If you tell me what a Gaia-style avatar is! ^_^ Just kidding, I accept it anyway- and I'm glad you liked my poem!

How many angles is that, exactly?

Yes, I'm wondering if it's possible to make semi-comics with them now.

Actually, that's been possible all along, but a wider range of options would be awesome.

hS will probably create an account at some point

Namely: iomccoy. Then I'd get called iom, and that got typo'd to ion. And then things like ion coy, so obviously I had to be a shy ion, right? ^_^

XD In all seriousness, though, Skarmory comes from Pokemon Silver; I haven't played ANY of the main Pokemon games, alas, but the Gold/Silver generation is my favorite aesthetically, and carries a lot of damn good memories due to The Power Of One being a big part of my childhood. And yeah, Skarmory is obviously my favorite Pokemon.

My Boarder name is also the same as my Tumblr username. I would've used FawkesTheSkarmory, my first dA account name, but it isn't as iconic and probably wouldn't make as much sense.

That's just what little car enthusiast me came up with many, many years ago both as a nickname and the name of his self-insert characters.

A bit silly, but I never bothered changing and probably never will.

(The only exception about using that so-far is League of Legends - I go by TurboAvenger in-game. Probably just as silly, but I had to come up with a different name than my usual.)


P.S. If there's any LoL-playing Boarder, I suggest against adding me as a friend in that game. I'm bad at it. Hopelessly so.

I used to frequent a gaming client called Byond back in my RP days, way in back the yonder times of three years ago. There was one game in particular called Mitadake High (every bit as anime as it sounds) which I used to play almost daily. It was great fun, but the gender of the character you played as was linked to your profile and I liked a little bit of variety.

So, long story short, came up with a female profile which I called Doureimi (phonetically doe-ray-mee, because this was during my musical phase), then since everyone I knew had at least three accounts, I went ahead and gave her a male twin, Fasoula (fah-soe-lah) whose purpose turned out to be gathering digital dust. I decided a couple years later, though, that I liked the sound of the name and made it my all-purpose internet name.

As for my old name: Matthew was the name of one of the primary characters of a story I gave up on years ago. 72 is a number I picked out of my birth date that happened to rhyme with Matthew.

Hieronymus – deliberately misspelled Anonymous, because I wouldn’t tell my real name on the internet.

Hieronymus – a.k.a. Saint Jerome, because I’m trying to be a decent person, although I will never reach saintly levels. Also, I may have misinterpreted "ascetic" as "hermit", and I’m not a sociable person.

Hieronymus – a.k.a Jerome of Prague (burned for heresy at the Council of Constance), because my critical mind doesn’t take anything for granted.

(Wikipedia has many more of these guys, but when I checked with an old printed lexicon whether the name would be suitable, I found only these two, and I felt that combined they fit may personality quite well.)

Graubart – just look at me (it translates to "grey beard"). I won’t hide the facts that I’m old, male and German.

Also, I like to share my initials with Hermione Granger.

HG

Mine is a reference to to things: First off, I'm a soprano (except I'm a lyric, not a dramatic), and secondly I have a tendency to be very dramatic. Tawaki can testify to that.

I picked it because it meant one less username to remember, honestly.

my main medium of interest.

The "doctor" part comes from my real initials: D. T. R. If you squint, they sort of spell out "doctor." I actually came up with the doctor thing when I was very young, as a secret representation of myself in my mind. Years later, when I started using the internet and needed a name of anonymity, I incorporated my old secret name into my new screen name.

Though my original name was wobblestheclown, and that has a little more story attached to it. Or at least growing on it, like vines on an old building that the architect totally fouled up.

See, I love clowns. Always have. I'm not circus people, don't get me wrong, I stay in one place and don't keep animals in a tiny locked room in between parading them in front of gawping misborn with wits drowning in candyfloss. But a clown is different. Just, as a concept, a clown is different. Someone has devoted their adult life to making people smile, to making a little child's day brighter. That takes... that takes the kind of person I can respect. It is an expression of love for one's fellow man that is without peer, at least in my book. It is a gift that you can give when you have nothing.

The clown is a smile on a dark day, and I cannot help but love it.

'Kaitlyn' was my anonymous throwaway for reviews on FF.N. Since this was a fandom-y space, and I didn't expect to stick around, I used Kaitlyn.

Twelve years later . . .

A friend of mine requested OCs for a story when I was relatively naive as far as fanfiction goes. I wracked my brains and came up with a centaur named 'Kitty Eden'. It was accepted into the story, and I enjoyed reading the author's portrayal of the character so much that she snuck into some of my stories, as a background character. Somehow, I started using Kitty as a screen name instead of my real name- which is, of course, ▋▋▋▋▋. And it ties in nicely with my actual username, which is 'TheBigCat'. And here I am now!

I came up with my name when I needed my first email address; it's actually only the second name I ever used on the internet (and the first was a throwaway). This was late 2002 (I actually got an email address to talk about The Two Towers during the Christmas holiday!), and I'd just read the Silmarillion - so I combed the Index for two words to put together. 'Shadow' and 'Eagle' stuck out, so Huinesoron I became.

hS

^^^^ Oh, that thing? That's a Latin-alphabet representation of my Tengwar monogram, which looks like this:



The 'S' (silme is larger than the 'h' (hyarmen), so that's how I write it in English, too. (The silme is also backwards, but writing 'Zh' would be a bit TOO obscure.) ~hS

But I never get around to it.

...And I was trying to make a seventeenth account on an online game I don't quite remember. I needed that many accounts because I kept forgetting my information. Anyways, I tried to make my screen name, and everything was taken. So I just came up with the single most random, memorable thing I could. Ratbrainbasher is usually what I use for things I don't mind being unsecured, because it lets people find me easily across games and forums. I think I got the inspiration from an Andy Griffiths book I grabbed off the shelf when I was pretending to work. It was a demented, crude, yet funny choose your own adventure book, and part of it involved a rat, you and a rolling pin. I don't know why I named myself after that.

I saw that not many people did did multi-dimensional beings very well, especially in fanfic. I wanted to have a crack at it, so I did what I usually do when making a character: find archetypes. I flesh them out later, but I like to see how others have handled certain character types to get some inspiration. While browsing TV tropes for multi-dimensional organisations, I came across the PPC article. I was intrigued, and decided to check it out for myself. Because I was looking for how to make a World-Jumper at the time, I decided to call myself such. Since then, I have used it for many other websites, and has become my semi-official username.

And, before you ask, no. I have not written a single thing with him yet. I've been trying to, but I just can't work it out. One of these days...

...that your username is "Bella" backwards? That's a relief. :-p
Mine comes from Pokémon... in a rather obscure way. Y'see, when I was young and stupid, I signed up for my first ever forum, with the username "ManaphyLv100". About five minutes later, I realised that that was a stupid name, but I couldn't change it.
Instead, I had to come up with something... subtler. Something cool enough for 13-year-old me. Now, Manaphy's a Seafaring Pokémon, which makes it a seafarer. 'This is genius!' I thought. And it stuck, because I'm terribly bad at making new names.

Superfluity means an over abundance.
I found this word when I was trying to find the term for a group of nuns. I was looking for something similar to the names for groups of animals i.e.: murder of crows, school of fish, etc. Eventually I came upon Superfluity from this book written about two hundred years ago in England that was basically a book about the names of groups of things.
I just really like the word and I thought that it was more mature as a username than some of the other names that I've used in the past.

Though some of my other monikers have more interesting histories. :P

I was sixteen, dumb, and I was obssessed with The Lord of the Rings, specially with Elves and Wizards... So, that's why: "Edhel + Istar = Edhelistar". And I use it for everything, so if you have seen this username somewhere else, quite likely it's me.

My real name is a tree name and I like Ents. Baroom is an approximate transcription of an Ent-noise. That and it's easier to type/remember than Laurelindorenan.

I was 10, and used mostly the same username and password for everything. Both were based on my name, and I used them for a while. It was secure, though, because I sometimes swapped the username and password! (Yeah, I'm not kidding when I said I was dumb.)

At this point, I was playing lots of browser-based games, in which I mostly used the aforementioned username and password (except for Club Penguin, where I had to use a different username for some reason I don't quite remember). I eventually came across one in particular: it claimed to be "the most interactive web game", and was a "real-life-based" penguin simulator. Didn't know that penguins had guns, industry, stock markets and slave labour.

So, I naturally found it to be the most awesome thing ever. However, I didn't pick my usual username for... Some reason. I think it might have been because I wanted to do some RP and decided an all-letter name was better for that, but I'm not really sure. So, I picked 'domirossi'. Also based on my name, but I was still stupid.

I used that site for around two years, and then I got tired of it and deleted my account. (Incidentally, I've just checked it and it's still a thing! There's no one on there anymore, though.) However, I had started to use this name for some other games, and it eventually became my "use-it-everywhere" username. The only times I don't use it are when I don't want people I know to find it (such as my Tumblr account).

I remember at least two with the same premise.
Anyway - this particular handle comes from the forgettable and ultimately useless Yu-Gi-Oh! card Des Dendle.
Funny story - at least some people first thought I was a girl. Probably has to do with the 'elle' suffix.

I've never had a proper nickname. Never. Not in school, high school, college, nothing. And, since my circle of friends was so heavily restricted, I've never socialized with other enough to earn me any type of name.

For a long time, I was using a combination of my first and last name, which resulted in MacBud. Over the course of time, it started sounding stupid so I've decided to use the Joker (I still do, when at conventions).

And about the current one? Well Matt, or 'Matthias' is the closest English equivalent of my actual name - Maciej (pronounced Mat-yey). And Cipher is because of "Gravity Falls" and the character, Bill Cipher. I don't know why I've decided on this, I don't even particularly like Bill, the whole concept just seemed to work.

Comes from when I was twelve and a huge Runescape addict. I wanted my character to have a normal name, not 'CamelotOrc' (Yes, that was my first's name. Yes, I still remember that. Shut up.), but the filters were sneaky little things and I played around with letters for a bit before settling on Iximaz. After a while, I just started adopting it as my internet name.

My first name on here was RinaAndRanda (Rina), which should be fairly self-explanatory. After the Randa half lost interest in missions, I decided to pick up a different name and went with this.

Funny story though, it was not my original tag, one day I was having a discussion and one of the players started going off on a crazy conspiracy theory rant, and so I decided to act like a hyper-advanced government AI and changed the name, I liked it and kept it. I was also going for something that sounded a bit pretentious.

My name came from an intentional mary sue that I made for Homestuck and I made her God Tier prototyped with a first guardian and in Homestuck, Becquerel, a first guardian, likes irradiated steak.

One: I've always been fascinated by the concept of oblivion, emptiness, nothingness, whatever.

Two: I'm in love with the letter V.

Enemy Unknown and Enemy Within are two of my favorite games. I was even playing a game using PPC agent names for my soldiers, before I accidentally saved over it. While I'm not normally one to get super-hyped about games (I've been burned before by undelivered promises), I can't help but feel a little excited by what's being planned.

I'm curious to know what people think of what is known about the storyline so far. Most of the complaints I've seen online (besides the old-school XCOM fans complaining about how the newer ones were dumbed down) have been regarding this "aliens won the war" angle. Personally, that's one of the things I'm most pleased about. It strikes me as a really interesting concept as well as a useful way of making sure the player has something to build up for. I see it as not undoing the end of the original; it's an alternate universe. (Not to mention it's given me some interesting story ideas for XCOM operative turned PPC agent James Pittman…)

I LOVE the XCOM franchise - to the point where Field Commander McCandless is from one of my Long War runs. Actually, that's a point though. Will the new one feature support from Long War? I bloody hope so, because it made Enemy Unknown and Enemy Within a bajillion times better.

Also, on the trailer:

AAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS THE AMOUNT OF WANT

Then it will be a fun game. I will add it to my list of games to get in the near future.

Not sure exactly what you mean by Matrix sequels, I've never seen those movies.

As far as its canon status is concerned, it's never been officially declared non-canon. According to the Agony Booth, it was unofficially declared uncanonical, but I'm not sure that's a particularly reliable source. Apparently there's a line in "Dark Frontier" that supports this.

Feel free to pretend it never happened; it seems that the rest of the Star Trek franchise has chosen to.

For most continua, yes, all minis are the same.

However, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Dragon Age, Godzilla, and Five Nights at Freddy's all have their own rules for minis, and they vary greatly.

The only exception seems to be for Pokemon, and that's because there've been several OFUs for the continuum. The generally-accepted minis are mini-Missingno.

For another example, Doctor Who/Torchwood. They both have mini-reapers, but the ones from Torchwood can only fly in circles because they're from a spin-off!

Crush 1 - 2 cloves of garlic into a paste and dissolve it in a glass of warm milk. If you want, you may sweet it with honey.

I know it sounds yucky, but trust me - works like actual magic. Garlic has both anti-bacterial and anti-virus properties.

1) Dissolve half a teaspoon of salt in one cup of salt water and gargle. Repeat several times per day. This works wonders for me whenever I get a really bad cold.

2) Drink iced water. Not only does it feel good on the throat it also keeps you hydrated.


Hope this helps!

Tea, Earl Grey, hot. Preferably with honey. However, if it persists for more than a couple of days and/or is accompanied with other symptoms you should consider going to a doctor.

I haven't had a chance to check it out fully, but it sounds really cool.

I got into the Fallout games late. I only picked up Fallout 3 a year and a half ago. Fallout: New Vegas came shortly after that. I enjoy them a great deal.

I should really get around to finishing the New Vegas storyline. I pretty much own the Strip, and many of the factions. Of course, some of them had to go. You know how it is.

Anyway, I should get back to that now that I have a bit of free time.

-Phobos

But it was quite good. Another one to add to my watch list.

Finally! Oh man, I've been hearing rumors about this for the last year or so, but an official confirmation? This is both awesome and torturous, since I won't be able to rabidly check for more info or reveals during this summer...

This is worse than the Shay Leigh Turner fic the DTE dealt with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN_OXZAhWM4&list=PLpNAl5zLZSMV42BBBMMFNSS9n2_Mw9e_g

This is such a troll.

"groundoon was a ledgend and very cool so dave picked him and he was aslos on fire becuz he knew fire blapst witch is a very strong mov."

You just can't beat that!

*runs off to read more, laughing like a maniac*

I'm going to be in Hawaii with my parents and younger brother from June 10th to 18th this month. I'll be checking the Board and my email on my cell phone, but I won't be able to do anything on the wiki. (Other than read, of course.)

You can always just ask here.

If so, you little guy *points at mattchiper94* have to go bye-bye.

Naturally, I meant mattcipher94 + a g-mail tag.

Ok, Officially I'm just Dutch, but the border around my home is so messed up nobody knows for sure. (Try finding Baarle-Nassau on Google Maps and you'll see what I mean)...

Auckland, to be precise.

I speak some Polih, and I have both passports, so I think "Polish-American" works as a description. PRobably.

Tennessee, specifically.

Although most recently Welsh, and then general Anglo-Celtic before that, if you go back.

Me, I'm just a plain old American.

Born in Saint John, New Brunswick and am half-Caucasian, half-Asian.

My family is, regrettably, not very interested in its heredity. As far as I know, I am of African-American (for lack of a better term) descent, have an unspecific European maternal great-grandfather and my dad claims we've also got Native American (or perhaps Indian, he's never clarified) blood in there somewhere.

Virginia, but I'm so close to DC that practically speaking I'm in the capital.

I am, indeed, from Israel. Currently a Sergeant in the IDF's C4I Corps, though I'll be getting my Sergeant First Class in a short while.

Though if I don't get a zookeeper position at my current zoo in the next year, I may end up moving somewhere else and trying again.

Midwestern United States, born and raised in the Ohio River Valley. Moving to Arizona in about a week, though.

Jewish-by-heritage, and I think my parents have Eastern European and German roots (way, waaaaaaay back). ^^
Not much to me. :P

More specifically, one half of my family were farmers (in China) and the other half were craftsmen (in Québec).

Thanet, to be exact. =]

Also, fun fact:

In English language 'Polack' is is a derogatory reference to a person of Polish descent, but here it's a neutral meaning.

That's why I don't get mad if someone calls me a Polack :D Because that's who I am.

Hi from Denmark!

Though, if you want to be boring and mark me as american, you can do that too.

Though if I wanted to I am not so far removed that I can claim I am Native American. Also spent a bit of time living in South Korea.

I also have Italian, Austrian and maybe Spanish ancestry.

*waves from Mexico*

I was born in Ohio, but my parents moved to the states from Indonesia, so... yeah. :D

Except I lived in New Jersey until I was six. And my dad's a bit Russian, I think, except he was adopted. And I don't even know where Mum came from. I always assumed it was Mars or something...

And being very amused that I described myself as "Rebel!DawnFire, this is she. And she looks about as much of a rebel as a tribble does." in that post.

Still got the triple citizenship, currently living in Canada. Hurrah! /hugs the moose in the backyard and downs several pancakes with maple syrup/

Say, anyone else here have triple citizenship? If so, which countries? I'm curious.

~DF

It's time-crunch time at school over here..

Unless you wanted me to go listing my European heritage, which I doubt. ;)

Well, now that I have your attention: how about those Habs?

No, just kidding. There really is a new story, titled "A Weary Traveler,". In it, Knight Eshakhar travels to Keep De'endee in search of hospitality from the Lady Iximaz (newly made Baron), and meets her for the first time.

(This story also serves as the introduction of Knight Eshakhar. As it's a story rather than a biography, some information is not included; this will be filled in with later stories or an additional paragraph at some point.)

We hope you enjoy reading it; we certainly had fun writing it!

~DF

The 2015 map, updated based on the thread.

-Ofum is now a ruin.
-Ba-Korp has been founded in southern Ozerbord, on the border between Huinesoron and Thanasius.
-Los Taelis has not been founded, due to lack of comment from Wechi.
-Critta-Kalthin has been upgraded to city status.
-The Riding of Sittorese has been founded. Of the barons who've offered comment on it, only one has been against the founding (Phobos); at least four have been in favour (five if the Wechian letter counts). So it's founded. It contains no cities; there's not enough people claiming to live there to constitute one!

If you want to set up shop in the Riding, choosing one of the two towns or adding your own would be lovely. ^_^

hS

'Er ladyship the Baroness Iximaz, in 'er infinite wisdom, do wish fer me ter possess arms. An I tole 'er, I did, I tole 'er Ladyship as the ones either side o' me shoulders do still work fine, but she do mean fer me ter take a coat o' arms as befits 'er advisor's status as Knight o' Iximaz.

I doesn't 'old with fancy, so makes it quick

((Translation: I'd like a coat of arms for the commonest commoner to ever stink the place out, because she's a knight now. Ix insisted. =] ))

Baron Huinesoron:



Ner black, rena gold; casta nastar alta tera, white feather with red marks and gold stem; canta nastar nica, gold nib of the feather; canta miri, golden elanor flower; canta miri, mallorn leaf being drawn in silver in by the pen nib.

This has technically changed, but only in that I've outlined the quills a bit more. I'm still not terribly happy with those leaves, and if I can come up with something I'll change this someday, but it'll do.

Baron Kaitlyn:



Nis sky blue, rena white: canta nastar alta cuna, a five-line staff on white ribbon enclosing a design recalling firethorn berries; canta miri, lotus flower pointing inwards; indil in fore, the twelve-pointed sun in splendour.

I've redrawn the whole thing to make the ribbons a bit less overwhelming (and lopsided), and added the lotus flowers to commemorate her election as a baron. Eight points now!

The Impaled Arms:



Nis sky blue, rena gold: casta nastar alta tera, white feather with red marks and gold stem; canta nastar alta, a five-line staff on white ribbon enclosing a design recalling firethorn berries; canta miri, golden elanor flower; canta miri, lotus flower pointing outward; indil in fore, the twelve-pointed sun-in-splendour, with feather stems merging with the points.

I'm actually pretty happy with this one. It's rather busy, but so are Tolkien's! And I do like the way the flowers pair up.

hS

Please tell me if this bio is in line with the canon. It's still in the works.

Thunder, named so for her everlasting quick temper, was born in the Federation of Academia, where she quickly gained a passion for reading stories, writing stories, and defending the good stories. She traveled to Plort when she was old enough, landing first in the Commonwealth of Wechi before finally settling in the town of Manyuel. She became a Knight a few years later.

Her shield: Argent, between a lightning bolt Azure and a cat sejant erect Murray, an open book Tawny.

So, we have a lot of weird magic systems.

What about one based on music? See, I have in mind that Ser Read is a bard, and he uses his musical talents in combat. Sing at the Marizu, and they get hurt.

All of the names of things in Plort are rather silly, so I went with Paurok (Power of Rock).

Anybody else have thoughts on this?

...of Dame eatpraylove, the Errant Knight.

Eatpraylove completed her traditional pilgrimage through the Purmeshon Range and Mountains of Reverence over the summer and most of the autumn of the year she arrived in Plort. She had heard through Wechi of a barbarian in Fanvik-Neht who claimed to have become a major Pokhemman [adjective form of Pokhemmon] god. Having grown up there, first forged and fought with Chris there, and learned the basics of storytelling there, she took this somewhat personally. (This was part of her drive to become a knight in the first place.)

When she returned to Borrd and after her victory celebration, she approached the mage-knight Skaer'morys the Silver for assistance. Though he was only somewhat more experienced against the Marizu than she, she wanted to have someone to support her on her first quest.

Skaer lent her his armored bird, Falchion, and cast a Godrevan ((seems legit, right?)) spell that allowed them to communicate with each other and Falchion by thought. They worked together surprisingly well for relatively new knights, and completed the quest to slay "Tasha" by the end of November.

She has continued her travels, as always, and is currently tracking down a demon Marizu of sorts. Her thought is that if she uses her new weapon, the Blades of Violet Roses, to strike down the demon, the Blades will lose some of their own Marizu taint.

(Aside: Pokhemmon, which split off from Vidya Gaym some time ago and is currently negotiating its eastern border with the Confederation, is a small but prominent nation known primarily as a tourism hotspot. Its wild animals are mind-bogglingly diverse and powerful, yet even a child can tame them with the proper tools. Citizens of Pokhemmon worship various animal gods of the land, the sea, the sky, space, time, and life and death itself. They are a friendly, intensely loyal people, ready to defend any slight to them, their heroes, or their culture in battle.)

(Aside 2: The Grand Republic of Deeay has trade routes that lead to and from it all over Weab, reaching even to Plort in a few cases. That level of accessibility, however, means there is a strong Marizu presence/influence there, possibly stronger than the army. Rumor has it that the Marizu League seeks an alliance with Deeay, or already has one, or seeded the entire cabinet with its double-agents so as to manipulate the Republic. Eatpraylove fears for her homeland's safety, and prays every day that its citizens stand against and drive out the barbarians.)



Eatpraylove's Equipment
Dame eatpraylove is uncomfortable with longswords, and so primarily relies on her long dagger, Chris. Her green mare, Ami, shares her master's kindness and love of music, at least according to her.

Her first target, the god-impersonator "Tasha", possessed a mysterious green fairy she called "Miguel" and a fiery-tempered unicorn named Brenda. With help from Falchion and her (temporary) telepathic link with Skaer'morys, Eatpraylove convinced both that they would be better off serving her.

Miguel insisted that his mother come too, as Tasha had captured but never actually called on her, or even given her a name. His mother, now named Diane, helps keep the manor clean, while Miguel himself accompanies eatpraylove on her quests as a sort of sentient good-luck charm. (He also knows time-travel spells.)

The Blades of Violet Roses she received from Skaer'morys, who pulled them from an angel impersonator's rotting corpse, in exchange for Brenda. A pair of throwing daggers, they take their name from the odd purple sheen and engraved rose patterns on both blades.

[Copies of this parchment are magically distributed all over Wechi.]

We, the People of Wechi,

• considering that the core of "The Eastern Dilemma", rather than being the absence of effective government, is the presence of ineffective government
  
• remembering that the Commonwealth of Wechi and the Republic of Iric are what they are, not because the Baronial Council of the Union of Plort decided that this is the best for Plort, but because the people of Wechi and Iric like to have it that way
  
• being aware that military rule and civil government should be kept separated
  
• firmly believing that the good people living in eastern Borrd and in western Iric know best what should be done to make these lands prosper
  
• trusting in the ability of forementioned people to do what needs to be done on their own unless they are obligated to wait for governmental orders that never arrive
  
  
  
  • because the Ops and Dars of Iric are too occupied with the flourishing communities in eastern Iric to even think about their sparsely populated Far West
    
  • and the Barons active in the Council of Borrd, lacking the wisdom of the mostly absent Barons residing in eastern Borrd, do not actually know what is best for Borrd’s Far East
    

1. A fifth nation shall be created in the Union of Plort
   
2. This nation shall be named "The Riding of Sittorese"
   
3. The Baronial Council shall define the exact boarders of The Riding of Sittorese, approximately between the Larninkurv Mountains and the river Sozeri, in such a way that the actual power held by the Ops and Dars of Iric and by the Council of Borrd over the lands they can reasonably be expected to reign in their current state are not diminished (much).
   
4. The Baronial Council may set general limits for The Riding of Sittorese’ civil government, such as
   
   
   
   • this government shall be committed to the cause against the Marizu
     
   • nobody who is not a resident of The Riding of Sittorese shall have a say in its government
     
   
   
5. The Baronial Council shall not try to assign a civil government for The Riding of Sittorese in any shape and form; this decision is to be left to the people of The Riding of Sittorese.
   

Everything has its price. Be it the finest sword in the land, the most exquisite cloth, or a military rank. If you want it, it's just a matter of price, and finding the right person. And trust me, all ye good lords, Cipher the Merchant King is the person you want to be friends with.

Originating from the lovely city of Tumblar, Cipher inherited the family business from his father; the old drunkard was a shallow bloke, his only interest was making more gold to spend on rye the same day. After passing away, the young heir decided to move out, close the first shop, and venture into the lands unknown to establish alliances and make some friends. He was led by a vision; a vast network of informants and suppliers, ready to provide with anything the client desires, no matter the cost, or methods. Be it the exchange of favours, investing into small shops, or simply blackmail and threats, as long as it could be used to obtain the goods - Cipher will use it.

Cipher has no side - his own well-being is the most important for him. He also doesn't identify himself with any coat of arms, nor a special mark. He is not, however, anonymous. Be it the Union, or the League, his goods (and information he possesses) always go to the highest bidder, and most people know that. There is only one question you must ask yourself, m'lord:

Are you the highest bidder?

I bring you word, Baron! I have sighted an island off our northeast coast- the terrible isle of T'ihihihi! It is populated by the most jubilant savages- Baron, they never stop laughing! I have seen them in the full furor of their joy, and it is terrible to behold!

((In other words, Iximaz and I were talking, and she laughed by saying "T'ihihihi," and I said it should be an island off the coast of Plort, representing all of the non-fandom funnies found on the internet. What do you think?))

((The Minecraft world is awesome! I feel like I could explore for hours and not find everything!))

After a good deal of revision and several attempts to understand the naming systems, here they are! If I've mixed something up with the description--ie, if it makes no sense--let me know and I'll describe it in plain English. For the Elvish arms, I actually made a sketch, which is included (in giant size, because I don't know how to shrink it. Hurrah!) It's just meant to give an idea, though, since I'm not completely sure I got the description right and had the sketch anyway. It's also a little blurry, unfortunately.

Heraldry

English: Oval, party per pall purpure, azure, vert. In center, an open book, binding Or with pages argent. An olive branch (stem brown with leaves vert) below, and nine sparks Or arrayed above.

Elvish: Ner purple, rena gold: canta nastar alta, white feather (partially consumed/covered by the fire) with gold stem and nib (nib pointing out), curving slightly to the left; canta miri, tiny blue birds; indil in fore, a ball of fire with blue center and layered/mixed red and orange flames emerging (covers or consumes the ends of the feathers).



Thank you, hS!

But i don't have the computer version of Minecraft, nor Civilization 5. :(

((But, knowing me, even for this I would need a Beta. Anyone willing?))

((Unfortunately, I don't know how to convey the entirety of the image in my mind into heraldic language, so I'll put the field in heraldic and the charges in plain English))

Field: Or, a bend sinister sable

Charges: A black letter "F" on the left and a black letter "C" on the right. (I originally wanted the letters to be silver, but that rule of tincture is in the way.) On the black stripe, two crossed, broken swords; the swords each have a big crack down their length.
Upon the crossed swords, an open book with a quill on it.

I might come up with an Elvish shield later.

...the tale of Darkotas the Loyal; renowned explorer, and guardian of Lady Iximaz's holdings.

Raised in the land of Tivit, Darkotas spent much of his life as an accomplished explorer, roaming Tivit to map out the various treasures and secrets it held.

He studied whatever he found, and became skilled in Tivit culture, including the art of Jhonra Sa'v strategy along with other forms of combat. Despite his travels and learning, the young man never encountered the legends of Plort until he met a passing traveler by the name of Iximaz.

He became fast friends with the young woman, and although she could not stay for long, they agreed to keep up in correspondence as she traveled to Plort in search of adventure. As she wrote of her training as a Knight and prosperity within the land, Darkotas prepared to follow on his own journey. He arrived in time to witness the appointment of his friend as a Baroness, and pledged his life and loyalty to her as a follower.

Although he does not hold Knighthood, Darkotas is more than prepared to defend his Lady and those she has sworn to protect. He knows Castle De'endee like the back of his hand, and has mapped out possible locations for defenses or traps if they are ever required. He hopes they shall never be needed, but he has sworn that no harm shall befall those he has pledged his life towards.


((Dark requests his heraldry be a dog Or with scroll Argent in its mouth, walking on a field Azure.))

((I'd like to join in, but I'm having a hard time deciphering what means what, sorry.))

((Part One is already on the Cyclopedia. Revised Version: To keep the spelling consistent, “rumors” should be “rumours”, unless all tales of Plort should be in American English.))

“Not much is known about Hieronymus the hermit. He travelled wide and far, looking for a place where to dwell when his livelong journey came near its end. Following rumours about a dreaded plague called the Marizu, and the brave knights who fought this evil, he came to the shores of Wechi. Unseen by anybody, he roamed this vast land for over a year, even sneaking into Arkive and the Hall of Ancient Records. Only when a stranger accused the noble knights of vile malefaction, Hieronymus stepped forward to Borrd to defend their selfless deeds.

“Since then, he has talked to some of the denizens of Plort, and he began to build his home in Wechi, and to prepare his offerings to Kanun and Spelin, for he pondered to explore the mountain range of Purmeshun, but now he seems to be lost in the wood of Kar’eer. How he got there is still a mystery, for he has never been seen in Iric.

“Some may conclude that Hieronymus is a fearsome mage who comes and goes of his own volition, and has not revealed his full power yet, while others may believe that he is a leaf in the wind, never knowing where he may be tomorrow, and both may be right, for being self-contradictory is his very nature.

((Part Two))

“Over time, rumours spread that the hermit may have left the dark woods to walk the roads and pathways of Plort again.

“Inhabitants of Ozerbord remember a grey bearded man who appeared at the Games of Batveg, clad in the habit of a harlequin, pretending to be a veritable knight, but fighting the atrocities in other knight’s tales rather than the misdeeds of the Marizu. Of course this fool was laughed out of town.

“Wordsmiths and Grammagicians at Worhkshap tell tales of a taciturn, grey bearded man wielding a staff – named Androia – in the training sessions for scribe apprentices. Civilians, knights and even barons up and down Plort claim that this very man’s feeble attempts in practising the ancient arts of Beytah may actually have improved their strength. And nobody shall ever again mention the Quiet Baker-Knight’s weird experience at the Shipfest in a nameless harbour.

“It is also said that Hieronymus, on his flight from Ozerbord to Worhkshap, passed an unexplored region at the junction of the Wattuf Mountains and the Mountains of Reverence, where he found the Snow Drops, a moste potente potion that helps curing forgetfulness. How these will be used in the future is yet to be seen.

“Recently, the peasants living in the lands between the rivers Wep and Freewep began to talk about a newcomer, fitting the hermit’s description, amongst the workers sent by Baron Neshomeh to help in repairing the damage caused by the last earthquakes.

((Thanks to PoorCynic for beta reading so far.))

“The peasants are probably not mistaken, for one day not far in the past, Hieronymus appeared in the Hall of Ancient Records – as he likes to appear out of the blue – and he bent low, and he spoke up and said, ‘Milady Neshomeh, I travelled wide and far. My eyes are old, and my posterior can not stand perpetually riding against the Marizu. But my mind is still sharp, and my hands don’t tremble. If you would assign me a corner in your castle Arkive, where I can rest and store my staff and flask, I could help you copying and restoring these documents I see are in bad shape and may soon disintegrate into dust. And in case I feel ever fit to follow you into battle, I would appreciate the licence to wear your colour on my shield.’ “

((Thanks to Neshomeh for beta reading the job application. No thanks for accepting it and sending me off to the wastelands to demonstrate me skill in the craft of Eich-Tee-Ehm-Ehl :-). BTW, Luthy and Sil’s spin-off is up.))

((Hieronymus the hermit asking for a corner to store his still uncanonical “weapons” implies that Hieronymus the boarder, if he ever asks for and gets permission, would like to have Hieronymus the archivist’s apprentice store his stories in the archive of Lost Tales, skipping the step of having them gone lost elsewhere first.))

((To Huinesoron: Since Baron Neshomeh didn’t object to the choice of colour: (Neshomeh-)Vert, spectacles Or. Please.))

((Would choosing the motto Keep it simple anywhere near Neshomeh’s coat of arms make me a horrible person? Well, the blunt worshiping may make up for it.))

HG

Baroom came to Plort after long wandering through Weab. She settled in Wechi, in the woods of Umor, among the foothills of the Mountains of Reverence. Her dwelling is not called Wellinghall and she is known to travel along the rivers of Bord. She spends her time watching. She has a deep hatred for mangled language and trys to seem as a witch of Prashette.

((I think that's what it's called. Hopefully, I'm doing this right.

Per chevron, Azure and Or, a dragon rampant guardant Sable, armed Argent, and a controller Proper.

Oh yes, a backstory.

Johan the Orange as a child grew up in the Guggle occupied Yu'Tub. He lived a very sheltered life, and had only heard of Fanvik-Neht and the Marizu in quiet whispers. When he was old enough to live on his own, he left Yu'Tub and began to live in Pokhemmon, and witnessed atrocities committed by the Marizu, and fled to live with the Potters' Moore. He got separated from them as he passed through Tivit, and got horribly lost. He eventually heard stories of Knights that fought off the Marizu threat, and wished to help.

Hope that's good.))

Perhaps now is as good a time as any to announce the courtship of the baron Thanasius Ampelius and myself?